Walking all the way down the stone steps, the chilling water vapor brushed against her bare skin, and an indescribable coldness instantly permeated to her very bones.
Yan Zhu shivered slightly, involuntarily holding the warm little body of the cat in her arms a bit tighter.
A wisp of flash fire passed before her eyes, and the surrounding darkness was instantly dispelled, revealing the scenery.
Feeling a wave of warmth, Yan Zhu subconsciously looked up, only to see Song Qing walking ahead, having ignited a few yellow talismans. The “flames” were now floating up and down in mid-air, glowing like scattered stars.
Continuing downward for who knows how long, they finally caught sight of a stone door.
Water brimming with a biting chill covered the ground in a thin layer. As the tips of her shoes lightly touched it, her whole body felt as though it had plunged into an ice cellar. The warmth previously brought by the talismans instantly vanished without a trace. Yan Zhu’s hands holding the cat trembled severely from the cold, and her pink nail beds turned a bruised purple.
By the time she walked up to the person currently examining the mechanisms of the stone door, she was already too cold to articulate a single complete sentence. Seeing that the other person was focused on important business, Yan Zhu could only press her chilled lips together and swallow her words.
“Crack ”
The stone block at the center of the door moved, and immediately afterward, the heavy door which had originally been a single entity split instantly into countless small square bricks, beginning to move according to a strange pattern.
In the end, what appeared before the two of them was a small arched doorway just wide enough for a single person to pass through.
Sword Qi pierced through space, arriving almost skin-close the very next moment.
Song Wenqing subconsciously reached out to block the person behind her. This action also cost her some precious time, and by the time she turned sideways to dodge, it was already a step too late. A wisp of dark hair beside her cheek was sliced off by the silver light, floating leisurely down.
As if startled, ten thousand kinds of sword intent awoke, and in an instant, the Sword Qi surged to a boil. It was waiting only for a single catalyst to pour down in a torrent.
Her garments fluttered without wind, and the body that had originally been tightly concealed under wide robes slightly revealed its outline thin and frail. Standing at the very front to face the vast, sea-like Sword Qi, Song Wenqing appeared even more diminutive against the overwhelming momentum, resembling a leaf on a boat ready to capsize at any moment.
Yet she merely stood there, her feet not moving an inch further.
The sword hanging at her waist left its scabbard on its own, its sharp tip pointing straight up into the air, surprisingly weaving a sturdy light barrier around the surroundings to resist the crazily pouncing Sword Qi at present.
Song Wenqing’s thin lips moved slightly, and a long, complex incantation was rapidly spat out. Her fingertips forming the hand seals coordinated with the changes, moving so fast that only afterimages could be seen.
The light barrier enveloping the tops of their heads instantly burst forth with dazzling brilliance. It seemed reinforced, shifting from pale yellow to orange.
Song Wenqing looked up, watching the ever-increasing Sword Qi heading their way, her expression turning solemn.
We cannot match this head-on.
She quickly assessed the situation.
The sword intent carried by these Sword Qi varied, and their source could not be determined for the time being. The only certainty was that as more and more Sword Qi from the opposite side joined this attack, the resulting power would climb to an unimaginably terrifying height.
Song Wenqing glanced at the stone archway before her and did not linger. She reached out to wrap her arm around the waist of the person beside her, forcefully driving the spiritual power in her dantian, and darted out like a flying arrow, heading straight back the way they came.
The turbulence temporarily ceased.
The narrow path they had come by could only accommodate a single person. As the two hid within it, physical contact was inevitably made.
In the darkness, the other person’s expression could not be seen, and only the gentle sound of breathing could be heard, as if it were a lover’s secret whispered directly against one’s ear.
Away from the cold, Yan Zhu regained some sensation, and her body temperature began to slowly rise.
Yet, it was still so cold.
It felt as though she were harboring a piece of ice in her chest.
Feeling the heat source right before her, Yan Zhu somewhat uncontrollably leaned closer, slowly narrowing the remaining distance between them.
Fortunately, just as biological instinct was about to succeed, reason promptly came online to halt this absurd behavior.
Realizing what she was doing, Yan Zhu’s pupils shrank slightly, and she quickly distanced herself from the person opposite her.
Then came the sound of her head heavily striking the stone wall behind her.
A sharp pain surged over, hurting Yan Zhu so much that she narrowed her eyes and forced out a few tears, her vision instantly turning blurry.
“Meow~”
As if trying to soothe her, the black cat lifted its head and gently rubbed against her chin.
The fluffy touch was also mixed with a bit of warmth.
Yan Zhu blinked her eyes, trying to dispel the moisture contained within her eye sockets.
The world finally grew clear once again.
Yet in the very next second, Yan Zhu met those amber eyes that had been watching her for goodness knows how long.
The other person looked at her with intense focus, and when their gazes met, the other did not avert them as before. In the end, it was Yan Zhu who couldn’t bear it, quietly shifting her gaze away.
Heat flushed across her cheeks. Yan Zhu flurriedly blinked her eyes, pressing her body even tighter against the stone wall behind her.
“You…”
Her words wandered in the long “tunnel,” colliding to create a peculiar echo.
“…Are you very cold?”
Her voice was also magnified severalfold by the darkness.
The appearance of the person before her thus became much more blurred, to the extent that Song Wenqing couldn’t even make out the contour of those beautiful eyes.
After the question was thrown out, no response came for a long time.
Song Wenqing reached out and felt around, her fingertips landing somewhere with a sensation of freezing coldness. She traced the outline upward, and amidst the other person’s slight gasp of surprise, she touched warm and soft flesh.
What was that?
Song Wenqing spread her five fingers and found she could barely loosely grip it.
A strong, vibrant pulse beat against her palm, thudding one beat after another without stopping.
It is a neck.
“I’m sorry.”
Song Wenqing was uncharacteristically panicked; she hurriedly withdrew her hand.
The neck is truly a subtle place; to hold it is almost to hold a person’s lifeline.
So fragile, as if a gentle twist would snap it.
Realizing how intrusive her recent action had been, Song Wenqing naturally pulled her hand back, her fingertips lightly curling into her palm as if she were firmly grasping that lingering sensation as well.
Holding someone’s neck implies threat and control.
Song Wenqing had only seen the former layer, while her unclear heart drifted in a daze toward the latter.
“It’s fine, you didn’t mean to.”
The person spoke. She did not misunderstand, and even articulated the meaning behind her unfinished words.
“Are you still cold?”
Song Wenqing asked her.
When she had wrapped her arm around Yan Zhu’s waist, she had accidentally brushed against her chilled hands, but the situation had been too urgent at the time to spare any thought for else.
“…A little bit.”
Yan Zhu hesitated slightly before replying.
Her body temperature was rising, but the internal chill seemed impossible to dispel; she genuinely felt freezing. In fact, a hidden thought emerged deep within her heart, longing for the warm palm that had loosely grasped her neck just moments before.
An incantation whose specific meaning was inaudible drifted into her ear, immediately followed by a long-lost warmth originating from her chest and spreading across her entire body, as if illuminated by brilliant sunlight.
Even her nerves relaxed comfortably, and her frozen stiff limbs finally regained sensation. Yan Zhu panted softly, “Thank you.”
Song Wenqing murmured a soft “Mhm,” treating it as a response.
Only she knew her inner self was far from as calm as her exterior. At this moment, she suddenly felt uncertain about her previous judgment regarding this person’s identity.
A suspicion even floated into her mind: Could it be that Yan Zhu really is just an ordinary mortal, exactly as she claimed?
The deeper one went, the heavier the chill became. However, this coldness was manifested from spiritual power and could rapidly invade the entire body along one’s limbs, making it hard to expel. One had to circulate the spiritual power within to resist it; without it, one would be frozen through to the internal organs and await only death.
Song Wenqing had consumed a vast amount of spiritual power along the way because of this, and shortly after confronting the Sword Qi behind the stone door, she had already sensed her physical strength failing.
Yet, Yan Zhu…
No matter how meticulously someone disguised themselves, they surely wouldn’t notice this subtle layer.
Doubt arose in Song Wenqing’s heart, but lacking supporting evidence, she remained caught on the Daoist aura surrounding Yan Zhu.
If she is an ordinary mortal, then how does one explain that?
A voice holding the opposing view argued in her mind.
This person was a bundle of mysteries.
Song Wenqing groped downward, taking hold of the hand the other person had hanging at her side.
It was slightly cool, with a soft palm and smooth, delicate skin on the back of her hand.
Like the hand of a young lady from a wealthy family raised in a boudoir, untouched by worldly hardship.
She had long since noticed that Yan Zhu’s palms lacked the calluses a cultivator should have, undoubtedly adding weight to her other hypothesis.
However, this was hardly an appropriate moment to ponder such matters.
Song Wenqing raised her other hand to gently meet it, palm to palm. The complex patterns carved into their palms conveyed a strange, indescribable tactile sensation to one another.
Song Wenqing mobilized the meager spiritual power remaining in her body, making it flow into Yan Zhu’s meridians through their skin-to-skin contact, thereby achieving the goal of thoroughly driving away the cold.
For a time, the surroundings fell silent, save for the sound of their gradually synchronizing breathing.
The feeling of spiritual power traveling through the body was wondrous, like a current traversing the meridians. Wherever it passed, that area felt as though it had been immersed in warm water, leaving behind only a lingering, continuously surging warmth.
Yan Zhu closed her eyes, her brows relaxing then furrowing. Right now, her inner feelings were complex, a tangle of gratitude and apology.
When it was all over, Yan Zhu opened her mouth to say something to the young woman before her, yet didn’t know what to say. In the end, before the words escaped, her lips pressed tightly shut.
The other person didn’t seem to care much, shifting her body slightly to swap positions with her, and only turned back to walk once they reached a wider space.
The black cat stared at her with round, large eyes. Yan Zhu lowered her head, smiled at the little kitten, and pressed a kiss to its forehead.
The little fellow froze in a daze. Perhaps feeling shy, or for some other reason, it used both front paws to cover its small head, burying half its cat-body into her chest.
Yan Zhu raised her head with a smile, running right into the eyes of Song Wenqing, who had turned around to look at her at some point.
The young woman stared at her intently.
This scene gave Yan Zhu a groundless illusion. In a trance, she felt as though those eyes had already recovered their sight.
“Let’s go.”
The other person simply said, leaving behind a receding figure.
The atmosphere lingering around her made Yan Zhu sense something, and she blinked, her expression tinged with bewilderment.
Is she… angry?
Compared to her previous guesses, she felt more confident in her ability to judge a person’s emotions. This was a skill she had honed after surviving for years in a harsh environment in her past life one that determined whether she would live a “better” or “worse” time later on.
Once a conclusion was drawn, it was rarely wrong.
Yan Zhu broke into a small jog, hurriedly catching up to the person in front of her.
Hearing the footsteps, Song Qing seemed to have slowed her pace to wait for her, which made Yan Zhu’s pursuit much less exhausting.
It was also a signal.
Yan Zhu thought this was a good thing; the other person wasn’t overly angry.
Yet, immediately following this relief, an immense wave of sorrow broke its banks, swallowing and engulfing her entirely.
“Freak! Bookworm! Idiot!”
“I don’t like her, you know, she’s very weird.”
“I don’t know, she’s just… really weird, don’t you think?”*
“Nobody likes her…”
“Don’t play with her… Careful, or we won’t play with you either!”
“…Hahahaha, last time I said something ‘nice’ to her, and she actually thought I was praising her, so stupid!”
“Can’t you tell? That tone?! So stupid!”
“I think she’s clumsy and annoying… Too troublesome, just seeing her makes me annoyed.”
“Hey, do you think if I go talk to her, she’ll think I want to be friends? So interesting! Go tease the idiot, why don’t you?”
…
The clamor ceased abruptly, and Yan Zhu almost crashed into Song Qing’s back ahead of her.
The cat in her arms let out a meow, drawing those amber eyes toward them.
“I’m sorry.”
Yan Zhu said with a trembling voice, something choking up her throat.
“I’m so sorry for causing you so much trouble.”
She raised her head, her gaze fixed between the young woman’s brows, trying to glimpse any trace of dissipating anger.
At that moment, she felt as though she were standing in the center of a courtroom once again, awaiting a verdict.
That previous pair of parents had argued fiercely over child custody, nearly coming to blows.
While her own parents had simply pressed their lips tightly together, uttering not a single word.
Yan Zhu couldn’t remember what frame of mind she had as a child sitting there; she only remembered that ever since that time, she had become a “trouble.”
She was the symbol of a failed marriage, a ticking time bomb capable of destroying existing happiness she was a massive trouble.